Good morning. China is again resorting to a recipe of the past. Investment by SOEs—state-owned enterprises—is rising, surpassing private investment growth by a wide margin as Beijing tries to kickstart its slowing economy, Ian Talley reports.

Investment growth by state-owned companies increased to nearly 25% last year, overtaking the 3% growth recorded by the private sector. State firms increasingly rely on the government and on bond issuances for cash, as their investments outpace profits by far.

With state companies getting preferential financial treatment, a long-term rise in the share of bank credit going to private companies reversed in recent years. Loading up more debt in an economy known for its overcapacities means China is risking a debt crisis—and more pressure from the Trump administration.

Investors watch for impact of FedEx’s price change. FedEx Corp. raised prices to cope with demand and has reportedly turned away large e-commerce shippers. With the company reporting fiscal third-quarter earnings today, investors will assess whether it was successful in getting big customers on board. Nike Inc. will also announce earnings today.

Abe in Brussels.Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe is meeting EU representatives to discuss a trade deal following the U.S.’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Politico reports.

SoftBank scraps investment in iPhone rival. SoftBank Group Corp. tabled a proposed investment in Essential Products Inc., a smartphone startup founded by Anthony Rubin, the creator of Alphabet Inc.’s Android software. The investment would have valued the company at about $1 billion.

Google promises better policing. Alphabet Inc.‘s Google pledged on Tuesday to police its websites better by ramping up staff numbers and overhauling its policies after several companies deserted the internet giant for failing to keep their adverts off hate-filled videos, Reuters reports.

Wells Fargo openings keep falling. Wells Fargo & Co. said that its customer checking-account and credit-card openings plummeted last month compared with figures a year ago. This has been a trend since the bank’s sales-practices scandal erupted last year.

Mars hopes to reclaim market share. Mars Inc. is launching Maltesers in the U.S., marking the first time in 20 years since it launched a chocolate brand in its home market, the Financial Times reports. The move aims at reclaiming market share that Mars lost to its rival Hershey Co.

Taylor Duran, an assistant driller, operates machinery on the top level of Shell’s Mars platform near New Orleans, La., U.S.

The Wall Street Journal

Shell goes on a deep-water drilling diet. Royal Dutch Shell PLC is attempting to reinvent itself with “budget deep-water drilling.” The company is learning to trim costs and squeeze more value out of offshore fields.

BMW to increase R&D spending. BMW AG is targeting record sales, revenue and earnings this year, as the company revs up development of new models and technology after losing the crown as leading premium-brand auto maker to Daimler AG.

VW truck and bus profit to rise. Volkswagen AG’s truck and bus segments are likely to see a boost in profit this year. This is largely because of strong sales in Europe and China and a bounce back in Brazil.

Heineken prices senior notes worth $1.75 billion.Brewer Heineken NV has priced U.S.-dollar senior notes worth $1.75 billion. The proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes which could include debt repayments and acquisitions, the company said.

Fosun in search for real estate partners. Despite heightened government restrictions on foreign real estate investments, Fosun International Ltd.’s Fosun Property Holdings looks to partner with Chinese groups to invest in global real estate. Chinese government controls on capital outflows were “making a difference right now,” the company said. Nevertheless, the controls will not impede Fosun’s partnership plans, the Financial Times reports.

HTC to sell Shanghai factory. Smartphone manufacturer HTC Corp. said it will sell a production facility in Shanghai. The move is aimed at raising cash to support its unprofitable operations, Caixin reports.

Bentley Motors loses name challenge.Volkswagen’s Bentley Motors has lost a legal challenge to stop a small U.K. clothing company from using the historic name on its products, the Financial Times reports.

NYSE outage affects $150 billion in ETFs.A glitch snarled closing trading in dozens of exchange-traded funds late Monday at the New York Stock Exchange’s Arca platform, in one of the largest trading snafus of 2017.

REGULATION

The Federal Reserve building is seen in Washington, D.C., U.S., Oct. 5, 2016.

The Wall Street Journal

Fed officials defend rate rise.Key Federal Reserve officials have fanned out over recent days to defend last week’s interest-rate rise, although one policy maker argued the action was premature given the current state of the economy.

Germany says current-account surplus will shrink. Germany’s central bank argued on Monday that the nation’s vast current-account surplus is set to shrink markedly and can’t sensibly be curbed using political tools, pushing back against criticism of German trade policy from the new U.S. administration.

German central bank chief questions ECB policy.German central bank President Jens Weidmann suggested on Monday that the European Central Bank should slowly start to retreat from its easy-money policies, indicating divisions within the ECB over the timing of an exit.

DoJ closes Deutsche Bank forex investigation. Deutsche Bank AG Monday said that the U.S. Department of Justice had closed its criminal investigation into whether the German lender’s foreign exchange activities had violated federal laws, the Financial Times reports. Nevertheless, the bank is expected to be fined by the Federal Reserve and New York’s Department of Financial Services for its conduct in the foreign exchange market, Bloomberg reports.

Leon Cooperman trial set for November.Hedge-fund manager Leon Cooperman is likely to face the Securities and Exchange Commission after a federal judge refused to dismiss an insider-trading case against him. The SEC sued him in September.

U.S. investor groups in proxy-challenge battle.Shareholder activists are pushing back against a trade group’s request according to which the White House should use its influence on the SEC to make it harder to get governance, political or environmental issues onto corporate ballots, Reuters reports.

EARNINGS

Prosper moves deeper into the red.Online lender Prosper Marketplace Inc. said in a securities filing on Monday that its net loss for 2016 more than quadrupled, the latest demonstration of the struggles the once-hot sector encountered after money managers cooled on funding loans.

Porsche back in the black. Porsche Automobil Holding SE’s 2016 profit after tax was €1.37 billion ($1.48 billion) after a €308 million loss a year earlier triggered by parent company Volkswagen’s diesel-emissions scandal, Bloomberg reports.

Bellway hikes dividend.British house builder Bellway PLC said it would raise its dividend after posting a nearly 10% rise in half-year pretax profits, Reuters reports.

ECONOMY

This file photo shows a man waving both a Union flag and a European flag in central London, U.K., June 28, 2016.

Eurozone wage growth edges up. Eurozone wages increased at a slightly faster pace in the final three months of last year, the European Union’s statistics agency reported Monday, giving modest encouragement to policy makers that the stimulus measures they launched in 2014 are proving effective.

U.K. less thirsty for champagne. Brexit is taking the fizz out of the U.K. champagne market—one of the bubbly French wine’s most important. Champagne exports to the U.K. dropped in 2016 by 14% in euro-denominated revenue, while sales by volume fell 8.7%, according to new data from the trade association Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne.

Cost of repo safety net on the rise. The price of a safer financial system is going up. The tab for backstopping a type of short-term lending on Wall Street known as repurchase agreements has risen to $73.84 billion, according to a filing this month by Depository Trust & Clearing Corp., which operates the clearinghouse that facilitates trading in that market.

CFO MOVES

Tucows Inc., a Toronto internet-services company, announced the appointment of Dave Singh as chief financial officer, effective April 1. He will succeed finance chief Michael Cooperman, who is set to retire on the same day Mr. Singh joins the company. Compensation details weren’t immediately available.

Avery Dennison Corp., a Glendale, Calif., solutions provider for the retail apparel market, namedGregory Lovinsvice president and interim finance chief. He succeeds Anne Bramman, the company’s senior vice president and chief financial officer, who will leave the company after a transition period. Compensation details weren’t available.

Blackhawk Network Holdings Inc., a Pleasanton, Calif., provider of prepaid and payment network services, announced that Jerry Ulrich, its finance chief, will retire by the end of 2017. The company has commenced a search for his successor.

The Morning Ledger from CFO Journal cues up the most important news in corporate finance every weekday morning. Rheaa Rao contributed to today’s Ledger. Send us tips, suggestions and complaints: kimberly.johnson@wsj.com.

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In 2018 banks are focused on becoming more strategically oriented, technologically modern and operationally agile. To do that they will have to address multiple challenges, including a restive customer base, regulations, legacy systems, disruptive models and technologies, new competitors, cyber risk and workforce transformation. Priorities and potential solutions will vary by business line. Scott Baret, vice chairman, U.S. Banking & Capital Markets leader, Deloitte & Touche LLP, discusses how these challenges are impacting retail and commercial banks, wealth management firms, and payments and capital markets businesses.

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